Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Harvest Festival | Fair Trade Fair
From Ottawa we hightailed it back up to ResCov for our first annual Harvest Festival | Fair Trade Fair. The event featured plenty of fun games for kids—pumpkin painting and carving as well as other crafts—as well as seven fair trade vendors representing everything from stationary to coffee and middle eastern fashion. And what would a Harvest Festival be without a chili cookoff and lots of delicious pie?
It was a great time. Thanks to Dre—our friend and director of youth and outreach for the church—and Adam and Aaron for making it happen!
It was a great time. Thanks to Dre—our friend and director of youth and outreach for the church—and Adam and Aaron for making it happen!
Laura's 10,000th day
In honor of our friend Laura's 10,000th day, we drove down to Ottawa, Il to participate in an evening of smores, sparklers and great chili. The next morning we picked up some scrumptious apple butter at the local farmer's market and then headed back into the city.
The misguided marathon...
As many of you know, we've been training for the marathon all summer.
Thais returned from Beverly Hills on Friday night and met up with her parents and Heath at the airport—the Pietrangelo's flew in to serve as marathon spectators extraordinaire (Jenny would arrive later that night).
Saturday, the crew headed to McCormick place with Sarah to partake in the running extravaganza that is the marathon expo. Mom even got to take a picture with Elvis! (promoting the Las Vegas marathon, of course)
It was upon leaving the expo, however, that Thais started to experience stomach pains that only got worse as the day progressed. By 10pm, she was on her way to ER. The diagnosis: an ovarian cyst. Not cancerous—thank God!—but painful nonetheless. Despite arriving home at 3am, Heath went on to run the marathon the next morning while Thais fell into a pain/Vicadin-induced sleep.
As you may have heard, the Chicago Marathon itself was a debacle! The extreme heat—88°!!!—and lack of water led to the cancellation of the race midday. Heath made it to mile 16 before being rerouted to the finish line. He and our friend Sarah did, however, get medals.
Meanwhile, Thais spent most of Sunday still in pain. As the Pietrangelo's prepared to leave on Monday morning, Heath and Jenny took her to Swedish Covenant for a day-long hospital visit that turned into emergency surgery. Long story short: The cyst was 8cm in diameter and had twisted around her left ovary, cutting off blood supply and causing the pain. They were able to remove the cyst laproscopically (through the belly button!) and despite the residual recovery pain, Thais was okay. The doctor, Dr. Patel, was a real lifesaver! If the surgery hadn't been performed that evening, Thais could have lost an ovary.
On a brighter note: Great views from Swedish Cov!
Heath and Jenny were troopers and a big thanks goes out to all the friends that came to visit and sent encouraging e-mails and flowers!
Thais returned from Beverly Hills on Friday night and met up with her parents and Heath at the airport—the Pietrangelo's flew in to serve as marathon spectators extraordinaire (Jenny would arrive later that night).
Saturday, the crew headed to McCormick place with Sarah to partake in the running extravaganza that is the marathon expo. Mom even got to take a picture with Elvis! (promoting the Las Vegas marathon, of course)
It was upon leaving the expo, however, that Thais started to experience stomach pains that only got worse as the day progressed. By 10pm, she was on her way to ER. The diagnosis: an ovarian cyst. Not cancerous—thank God!—but painful nonetheless. Despite arriving home at 3am, Heath went on to run the marathon the next morning while Thais fell into a pain/Vicadin-induced sleep.
As you may have heard, the Chicago Marathon itself was a debacle! The extreme heat—88°!!!—and lack of water led to the cancellation of the race midday. Heath made it to mile 16 before being rerouted to the finish line. He and our friend Sarah did, however, get medals.
Meanwhile, Thais spent most of Sunday still in pain. As the Pietrangelo's prepared to leave on Monday morning, Heath and Jenny took her to Swedish Covenant for a day-long hospital visit that turned into emergency surgery. Long story short: The cyst was 8cm in diameter and had twisted around her left ovary, cutting off blood supply and causing the pain. They were able to remove the cyst laproscopically (through the belly button!) and despite the residual recovery pain, Thais was okay. The doctor, Dr. Patel, was a real lifesaver! If the surgery hadn't been performed that evening, Thais could have lost an ovary.
On a brighter note: Great views from Swedish Cov!
Heath and Jenny were troopers and a big thanks goes out to all the friends that came to visit and sent encouraging e-mails and flowers!
Beverly Hills
Post-birthday, Thais went straight into another weeklong celebration: The BreathRx Hygienist of the Year event in Beverly Hills. She and the Modern Hygienist team—official media sponsors of the event—shacked up at the Beverly Wilshire and spent three days with the five wonderful finalists.
Once the video is up on the MH site, we'll include a link here for anyone who would like to check out the pics. Needless to say though, it was a great time and the winner, Arvie Malik, is a phenomenal human being.
Once the video is up on the MH site, we'll include a link here for anyone who would like to check out the pics. Needless to say though, it was a great time and the winner, Arvie Malik, is a phenomenal human being.
Birthday on the Road
So, Thais celebrated her 24th birthday while in San Francisco for the American Dental Association's annual meeting. While that might seem like kind of a bummer, the city is a great place to celebrate another year of life, and her co-workers went out of their way to make it special.
Me and Christine toasting over a Cosmo!
City lights.
From San Fran, Thais headed straight down to Orange County to spend some time with the California Carters. A delicious home-cooked meal (and yummy apple pie!) were a great birthday treat.
Jenny then scooped Thais up and whisked her away to Disneyland for a hyper-extended birthday celebration. Feeling somewhat akward about actually trying on princess dresses, the ladies settled for hats and other more age-appropriate merriment. :-)
Me and Christine toasting over a Cosmo!
City lights.
From San Fran, Thais headed straight down to Orange County to spend some time with the California Carters. A delicious home-cooked meal (and yummy apple pie!) were a great birthday treat.
Jenny then scooped Thais up and whisked her away to Disneyland for a hyper-extended birthday celebration. Feeling somewhat akward about actually trying on princess dresses, the ladies settled for hats and other more age-appropriate merriment. :-)
What? The Carters fell into a black hole?
Not exactly. We have been absent from the blogosphere for almost a month due to travel, illness, and then the madness of trying to catch up on life after travel and illness. But now we're back...and, of course, we have pictures.
Hopefully, the posts above will provide a little insight into what's been keeping us so distracted.
Hopefully, the posts above will provide a little insight into what's been keeping us so distracted.
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